Space Oddity: Why People Think Jeff Bezos is Weird

You would not be able to find such geniuses everyday in the world. You should have that something extra in you for you to become a genius. That something extra is what people call “Weird.” Thus, in that sense, Jeff Bezos is weird. We shall now see what makes people think in this manner.

Jeffrey Preston: Early days

Born on January 12, 1964, Jeffrey Bezos had a great interest in technology right since his childhood days. You could call him a “mini genius” at that time itself. In fact, at the age of 18, he gave an interview to the Miami Herald. Now, which 18-year old gets such an opportunity?

He stated that it was his dream to establish space hotels, amusement parks, colonies, and cities in space. These cities could hold at least 2 to 3 million people orbiting around the Earth. He had an idea to preserve the planet by evacuating humans. These are high-level thoughts even for hardened professionals. An eighteen-year-old boy having such dreams is no doubt an ‘oddity’.

Career achievements:

Growing up in this competitive world, Jeffrey became a noted technology entrepreneur and investor. He has played a major role in redefining the retail-marketing scene. He is the founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Amazon.com. Today, if Amazon.com is the leading e-retailer in the world, the credit must go to Jeffrey alone. In fact, Amazon.com has become a trendsetter of sorts. Many people have followed his example and are running successful e-retailing companies. However, Amazon.com is the “Big Daddy of all e-retailers.”

Tryst with investments:

Many people may find satisfaction in life after achieving much in life. Jeffrey is no ordinary person. We have already called him “Weird.” In keeping up with this reputation, Jeffrey ventured into a different line of business by buying “Washington Post” for $250 million in cash in 2013. Today, you can find his name in the Forbes Top 20 list of multibillionaires.

The Space Connection:

Space technology has always been his first love. Right through his stint at Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos had been secretly working on a space vehicle launch. In fact, it was a well-guarded secret from the year 2000 to 2006.

He had a major role to play in the designing of “Blue Origin,” a human spaceflight startup. No one knew the existence of such a company until the time Bezos purchased a large area of land in Texas in 2006.

He acquired the property to develop and construct a testing and launch facility for his space vehicle. Space adventure was his passion right since childhood (read more at www.spaceventures.info/jeff-bezos/).

Blue Origin: The Concept

The main objective of Blue Origin is to make space travel affordable for man. To achieve this objective, they are developing a variety of technologies with special focus on ‘Rocket powered Vertical takeoff and Vertical Landing” (VTVL) vehicles. They are committed to reducing the cost as well as improving the safety of space flight. They have a dream to make Space accessible to everyone. This explains the slogan of the Company, “Gradatim Ferociter” (http://www.aerospacee.com/item/blue-origin/).

Setback:

In any enterprise, you can experience setbacks. Blue Origin is no exception. In 2011, Blue Origin lost one prototype launch vehicle to a space accident. Such setbacks are quite normal. However, one should recover from such setbacks and move on in life. Jeff Bezos admitted that the loss of the vehicle hurt him a lot. However, that should not be a dampener for his future attempts. He admits that such accidents do happen and are part of the process.

The Way Ahead:

The year 2013 saw Jeff Bezos enter into discussions with Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group and Chairman of Virgin Galactic. No one knows the outcome of these discussions. Maintaining secrecy is an old trait you can associate with Jeff Bezos. You could see the same traits in the functioning of Amazon.com as well as in the launch of the Company, Blue Origin. However, in 2015, Blue Origin has announced the launch of a new vehicle for testing in the years to come.

The space launch vehicle, New Shepard made a successful launch as well as a vertical landing. This incident happened on November 23, 2015 when the vehicle successfully flew into space and reached its target of 100.5 km before returning to Earth culminating in a successful vertical landing in West Texas.

The Number One Enemy:

Every business enterprise would have opponents. Blue Origin has one great enemy too. Of course, the enemy is an intangible one. That is “Gravity.” Jeff Bezos has said this many times during the course of his various interviews that for the visions of Blue Origin to materialize, they have to overcome this single opponent, Gravity. These thoughts could also prove that Jeff Bezos is a weird type of an individual.

Blue Origin: Vision

Jeff Bezos feels that his ambitions are not location centric at all. He does not believe in having locations such as Mars, the Moon, etc. He wishes to go wherever events take him. However, he harps continuously on one point and that is cost-reduction. They have a beautiful vision of seeing people living and working in Space. Jeff understands that this is a long haul. However, he dreams of this as a definite possibility.

Inference:

Looking into the determination of Jeff Bezos and his traits since childhood, he will not rest until he has achieved his objectives. It is a known fact that “Fortune always favors the brave.” Jeff Bezos must qualify as one brave man. There are no two opinions about this fact.

At the same time, geniuses have one quality in common. That is eccentricity. Jeff Bezos has it in plenty. You can see that the slogan of Blue Origin (Gradatim Ferociter = Gradually Ferocious) is perfect for a “Weird Individual” such as Jeff Bezos. Do you agree? Noticed anything weird about Jeff Bezos? Drop us a line.